Chapter 2 - Daniel Mercer didn't walk toward me.He stopped beside the black SUV.
That was worse.
Men like Daniel didn't hesitate unless hesitation meant survival.
Logan followed my gaze.
“Who is that?”
I didn't answer.
Grant lowered his phone.
“Claire?”
I looked at him.
“What?”
His smile returned, but it was thinner now.
“You know him?”
“No.”
The lie came out smoothly.
Too smoothly.
Daniel heard it.
His expression tightened.
He turned around and walked back toward the SUV.
I started after him.
Logan stepped in front of me.
“Hey.”
I stopped.
He held out his hands.
“You don't just walk away.”
I stared at him.
“You're done.”
“No, I'm not.”
“You've lost.”
His face darkened.
“Lost what?”
“The fight.”
He glanced at the audience.
Nobody laughed.
Nobody cheered.
That embarrassed him more than being knocked down.
He moved close.
“You think because you're some tough old woman you can—”
I put one finger against his chest.
“Don't.”
He froze.
The way I said it wasn't loud.
It didn't need to be.
Something in my voice made his expression flicker.
Then Grant stepped between us.
“Logan.”
His son turned.
“Dad?”
“Enough.”
That was strange.
Grant had wanted the fight.
He had filmed every second.
Yet now he was ending it.
His eyes weren't on Logan.
They were on the black SUV.
Daniel had already started the engine.
I tore off the gloves.
“Stay here.”
I crossed the street.
The SUV pulled away.
I ran.
Not fast.
Not dramatically.
Efficiently.
I knew exactly where the vehicle would go.
There was only one road out of Juniper Hollow.
I reached my pickup.
Started it.
And followed.
Ten minutes later, the SUV disappeared into the industrial district.
I knew that area.
Old warehouses.
Closed factories.
A river access road.
Places nobody visited unless they had something to hide.
I parked several blocks away.
Walked the rest.
Then I saw Daniel.
He was standing beneath a broken security light.
Alone.
Older.
Thinner.
His hair almost entirely gray.
But his eyes were the same.
“You shouldn't have come here,” he said.
“You came to my neighborhood.”
“I didn't know you lived here.”
“Don't lie.”
He looked away.
“Still the same.”
“What?”
“Always assuming everyone is lying.”
“Because usually they are.”
He gave a tired smile.
“Fair.”
I stepped closer.
“Why are you here?”
Daniel pulled a folded piece of paper from his pocket.
He didn't hand it to me.
He simply looked at it.
“Someone has been searching for you.”
“Who?”
“People who don't like loose ends.”
I stared at him.
“You think I'm a loose end?”
“I think someone thinks you are.”
He finally handed me the paper.
There was an address.
And beneath it, a date.
Three days from now.
My old military service number was written across the bottom.
My blood went cold.
“That isn't public.”
“I know.”
“Who has this?”
Daniel didn't answer.
“Daniel.”
He looked straight into my eyes.
“The same people who found me.”
Before I could ask another question, headlights appeared at the far end of the street.
Daniel stepped backward.
“Go home.”
“Not until you explain.”
“You don't understand.”
“I understand more than you think.”
“No.”
His voice cracked.
“You understand fighting.”
He swallowed.
“I understand what's hunting us.”
A black sedan turned the corner.
Daniel stepped toward his SUV.
I caught his arm.
“What happened to the Ranger team?”
He went completely still.
That was all the answer I needed.
The old unit.
The operation no one talked about.
The mission officially erased from our records.
The mission that had cost three soldiers their lives.
The mission everyone told me was over.
Daniel whispered one sentence.
“They found the ledger.”
I released his arm.
“What ledger?”
He looked toward the approaching sedan.
Then back at me.
“The one that proves who gave us the order.”
The sedan stopped.
Two men got out.
Daniel pushed me behind his SUV.
“Don't let them see your face.”
I stared at him.
“Who are they?”
He looked at me with genuine terror.
“People who already know your son.”
My heart stopped.
I had one child.
Evan.
Seventeen years old.
He was at home.
Alone.
I grabbed my phone.
No signal.
Daniel whispered:
“Claire...”
I looked at him.
“They're not here for you.”
A gunshot cracked through the warehouse district.
Daniel shoved me down.
Glass exploded above us.
May you like
And across the street, one of the men shouted:
“Bennett!”
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